A Home Away From Home

I know you all have been eagerly awaiting an update of my adventures, and I do not disappoint.

The week before Easter was vacation time here in Romania...my "vacation" started even earlier.  Tuesday, April 11, I returned to Bucharest for the final touches on my root-canaled tooth.  That procedure had taken place a few weeks earlier.  Fun stuff (hence the quotations).

Wednesday, April 13 was off to a rough start.  I left for the dentist office for procedure 4 of 4, with all of my luggage, when I realized that I had left my cell phone back at the Peace Corps office...a 30 minute trip away.  So after I finished at the dentist, I went back to the office, got my cell, and headed back in the same direction to the train station where I would wait four hours for two other volunteers.  At 7:45 we were on our train to Timisoara, in the west of Romania.  It was a loooooong night.

Thursday morning we arrived in Recas, where we would stay with another volunteer before heading off on the real adventure.  Basically we slept while Sara taught her last classes before vacation, bought our train tickets, and slept some more.  Friday was more of the same.

Saturday morning is when the fun really started...kind of.  The 4th volunteer's train was supposed to leave a bit after ours...I say supposed to because our train ended up being  THREE hours late from Bucharest.  Minor freak out ensued.  The delay leaving Timisoara meant that we would miss our connecting train from Belgrade to a tiny place in Croatia, and from there to Sarajevo.  Since Grandma taught me well, I said a few Hail Marys...to the approval of one travel buddy, and the dismay of another.  We finally got on our train to Serbia, found a crappy compartment on a crappy car that was filled with two New Zealaders and a crazy Romanian marathoner who wanted us to give him oranges while he ran the Belgrade Marathon.  Ummm thank goodness we were only passing through Belgrade.  As soon as we arrived at the Belgrade train station, we hustled to the information desk to find out if there was another train to Sarajevo that day...the jerk told us no.  When we asked about a bus, we got an even jerkier no, or really a "how should I know?"  So we hustled again to the bus depot next door and HALLELUJAH there was a bus in an hour that would arrive at the same time as the train we should have been on.  Looks like those prayers came in handy :)  As Aron found himself a Serbian hamburger, Sara and I were hit on by creepy Serbian human traffickers.  Or so my overactive imagination led me to believe (darn that CNN special on Romania's slave trade, and darn Laurel for introducing me to Taken).  The conversation went like this...
      Creepy human traffickers: Where are you from?
      Sara and I: Canada
      Creepy human traffickers: What city?
      Sara and I: Montreal
      Creepy human traffickers: Would you like to drink with us? As they hold up a suspicious bottle of alchol.
      Sara and I: Oh there's our friend, we have to go now.
For all his faults, Aron sure did have some impeccable timing.  Finally we boarded our bus for our 7 hour trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia.  The drive through the Dinaric Alps was truly stunning.  Everything was beautiful; natural or man-made.  We immediately noticed a difference of pride and cleanliness between these two countries and their neighbor to the north.  Finally, around 9 pm, we were at the train station in Sarajevo, waiting for our hostel director.  Jasmina found us there and took us back to the hostel.  After a low down of hostel services, we got ready for bed, anticipating the full day of city touring ahead of us.

Sunday we woke up and met Jasmina for our tour of the tunnel that connected the besieged Sarajevo to free Bosnia during the conflict with Serbia.  It was amazing to experience.  I had been saying all vacation that I had never been so close to war before.  Not as in I’m dodging bullets and shrapnel from bombs or anything, but that I had never been somewhere that had so recently seen war.  It was an intense, yet gratifying experience.  For all of you American travelers out there, do not be afraid of Bosnia.  We heard the reactions we got from family and friends when informed of our travel destination, but both cities were amazing, especially Sarajevo.  Jasmina, was not only the person who ran the hostel we stayed at.  She was a host leading us around the city, helping us get the Sarajevo experience.  The most profound moment for me was when she said that Sarajevans love Americans.  She told us thank you for the help and support our country gave hers.  It is not every day you run across something like that.  Let’s face it, typically we only encounter anger and hostility when it comes to US military intervention.  This was one case where our efforts were appreciated and I am lucky to have experienced that moment.

Monday we went back through the city to the places we wanted to spend more time at (I'll put up pictures in another blog post)…mainly the bazaar in the Old Town.  Did you expect any less of me?  Before considerably lightening our wallets, we trudged up a hill on the outskirts of town to a look-out point.  Sara and Aron trudged a little further, but I decided I had pushed my asthma enough for one day.  So I sat at the look-out point and contemplated life…or something like that.  After we had our fill of the hill, Sara and I left our mark on that bazaar…while Aron followed, he was a champ.  Later that day, I headed back to the hostel for a quick rest while the other two wandered around the city more.  At the hostel I met two other guests who were traveling alone and invited them out with Sara, Aron, and I.  We ate some dinner and then headed to City Pub for a few beers.  All in all, it was the perfect end to a perfect couple of days.

Tuesday we left for the train station in the morning and at 11:30 left to go back to Belgrade, Serbia.  We arrived in the evening and taxied to our hostel.  It was a gorgeous hostel; everything was clean and new, and the staff were really friendly.  As soon as we put our stuff in our room, we headed out to find some dinner.  It was a rather unexpected adventure…pictures will hopefully be up in the next blog post.

Wednesday we headed to the city center for a really nice breakfast and wandered around a bit before meeting up for a free walking tour.  Our tour guide was really nice, informed, and showed us everything we needed to see in the city.  The weather was beautiful…I even got a little tan :)  At the end of the tour, Aron backtracked to the War Museum with two other tour participants while Sara and I went off for more…can you guess?  Shopping.  Good thing these two countries were really cheap.  After fulfilling our souvenir/gift quota, we ate some cookie ice cream (delish) and waited for Aron before heading to a traditional Serbian restaurant for a traditional meal (also delish).

Thursday we headed to see the two NATO bombed buildings left as a sort of memorial before gathering all of our belongings and heading back to Romania.  We arrived in Timisoara at night, I hopped right on a train to Bucharest, sat around for a few hours, and finally got on a train back to site!  

That was the end of our vacation!  It was amazing, I wouldn’t have traded it for any other destination in the world…even Madagascar…and that means a lot coming from me.  Sarajevo is one of my favorite cities in Europe.  It was just incredible.  Not only was the city beautiful, but the people were as well.  You could see their pride in the way they held themselves, and in all of the buildings and monuments that had to be rebuilt.  It really was a home away from home.

My American Vacation...I mean, My Timisoara Vacation

After the last blog I posted, I bet you were all wondering what happened during the REST of my vacation.  Oops.  I left Miercurea Ciuc Friday night and after 14 hours, 4 trains, 2 terrible children, and 1 lost tooth I made it safely to Sara’s site in Recas.  The lost tooth was not mine, nor were the two children.  They were just the product of an eventful wait at the Brasov train station at 9 pm. 

Saturday was a fairly laid back day…as you can imagine.  Sara and I napped, saw the town, ate some food, napped, ate some more food, saw some things that she probably doesn’t want  me to post in a public location, watched some horror movies, scared ourselves half to death, and slept some more.  I should have taken this day as a sign.  A sign of the awesomeness that is a Freya/Sara vacation.  We kind of rock.

Rom. Orthodox Church and Revolution Memorial

Sunday we woke up early and took a train into Timisoara where we froze our butts off touring parts of the city…ate some McDonald’s at 10:30 am just to warm up…froze some more…and then spent one awesome afternoon at the home of one of Sara’s colleague’s.  She provided us with some amazing food, especially a chocolate caramel cake that produced sounds of angels singing.  Still waiting on that recipe, by the way.  At the same time, her father provided some insightful Romanian conversation.  After that afternoon of merrymaking we headed back to Recas for a nap, Black Swan, another nap, and a 2 am Pro Bowl viewing with a side of chicken wings.  Mmmhmm, we know how to live.

Favorite dog ever at our Sunday lunch

Enjoying  wings and football!

Monday, I got to sleep in a little before we went back into Timisoara for the partaking in such American traditions as mall shopping, spending way too much money, eating a disgustingly large amount of popcorn and drinking fountain Coca-Cola at the movies, and drinking over-priced Starbucks.  All in all, a lot was accomplished.

I go to the mall normal, and I come back a French high-schooler

Our early departure to Arad

Tuesday we woke up early and threw on our packs for our mini-trip to Arad to visit volunteers there.  After we dropped our packs off, we headed out to see the town.  It was cold and snowy, but Sara and I still managed to have a blast.  We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch where our personal space was invaded many, many times.  Poor Sara.

Catholic church in Arad

Arad-ean shenanigans

A snowy day in Oradea

Wednesday we woke up early again to head to Oradea, this time we were joined be Elizabeth.  Oradea was even colder and snowier, but awesome in its own way.  After a little more sight-seeing and shopping we took the train back to Arad for the night.

Warming up at an Irish Pub

Thursday Sara and I left Elizabeth’s and spent some more time at the mall.  Hey, who knows the next time I’m in a fairly Westernized place, I had to get my fix in. Don’t judge.  As we left Arad the whole “Ooops, we got on the wrong train” thing happened.  Read my previous blog if you are confused.

Sara and me out for a night on the town

Friday we slept in and I packed up my stuff.  We headed back into Timisoara to hang out with Sara’s counterpart…who is amazing by the way.  After dropping our stuff off at his place we headed…yep, back to the mall.  I had some last minute things to buy…that’s what I tell myself anyway.  After a delightful meal of KFC chicken, we went back to Sara’s counterpart and headed to a birthday party.  I got to see a little more of the city and we got free drinks and food…good night, I’d say.

Saturday we woke up EARLY.  Sara headed back to her site, and I got on my first of many trains.  14 hours later I was back at my site safe and sound!!!!!

8 hours on one train really does something to you

Something really cool that I have yet to figure out.

So that was my vacation.  Short and sweet.  The blog, not the vacation.  That was sweet, not so short.  Sara and I realized that the only way to vacation is with each other…obviously.  Get ready for our next adventures!

"Did we REALLY just get on the wrong train?!"

The day started out normal enough. Sara and I had spent the last few days traveling the western front, hitting up Timisoara, Arad, and Oradea and now were headed back home. In Arad, we buy our train tickets, check the Departures Board, see that we're on line 2 and head towards the tracks.  Soon after, the train arrives, we get on, (but not before making comments that it looked like a green cattle car-hint number 1 we weren't in the right place...) and we find out seat. Ipods in, and we waited for departure.

At exactly 2:30PM the train left-right on schedule. We had been traveling for about 15 minutes when the controller, or ticket checker walks by. We noticed he was not wearing the national CFR train uniform but didn't think much of it as we pulled our tickets out of our bags. (Hint number 2 we weren't in the right place.)  As I hand him my ticket, he looks at it, looks at us, looks back at the ticket and says "Nu este bun." OR in English- "It's not good." WHAT? Sara says "poftim?" or "excuse me?".  He looks at both of us and says again "Yeah, its not good.  Where are you going?" "Timisoara!" I respond, confused as all hell. "Well", he says, "we're not going to Timisoara". 

At this point Sara and I just look at each other, shocked, confused, horrified, scared. What does he mean we're not going to Timisoara?! Long story short, and with the help of the entire train car giving us information, we realized that we were on a local private train, headed out to the mountain villages in the East. Not South. Basically, the train we wanted was BEHIND this train on line 2-OBVIOUSLY, RIGHT? So once we figured out where we were headed, we had to figure out where to get off and get back on track to Timi.  The lady next to us told us where to get off (Periam) and so at every station our faces were pressed against the cold window pane, trying to spot our destination.  Finally, after about an hour of traveling in the wrong direction, we got off at Periam, a tiny village East of Arad. And so the adventure really begins...

Heading into Periam...where are we?!

We walk inside to the ticket window but there is no one behind the counter, so we walk right into the "seful statie" or the "station master's office" and tell him we've got ourselves a little situation.  In her Romanian, Sara tries to tell him what we've done and miraculously he understands and tells us there IS  a train to Timisoara. ALLELUIA! This is the good news. Bad news-it doesn't leave for another 2.5 hours. AWESOME.  We look around the village. I see a cemetery, a bar, and some houses.  We ask the man if there is a store we can go to, somewhere to stay warm and he points us into the direction of the bar and he says they have great coffee. The bar it is. 

Under the protective and watchful eye of the seful statie we walk towards the bar, and run right into a village crazie.  Literally this man is  walking up to us saying "fetelor! fetelor" with basically translates to "girls! girls!". Yes sir, we are ladies, but we want nothing to do with you. Sara and I have a short discussion in English, muttering under our breathes "What do we do? do we turn around" BUT THERE IS COFFEE IN THERE!" We move away from the man, turn around at least three times to walk back to the station but decide he's probably harmless so head back to the bar.  At this point, he beats us to the punch and runs into the bar yelling "the girls are coming! There are girls here!" Wonderful. We wait until he leaves and enter the bar.

As we enter, all eyes are on us (thank you messenger man) and we (dragging our packs) decide a beer is definitely in order. We order a beer, turn around to find a seat, and realize there are no free tables. Integration right? So we sit at the end of a long table where we were offered a seat and open our Ciuc beers.  After a few sips and awkward glances, the seful statie walks in with some friends and announces our presence again. "These are some American girls, they got on the wrong train and now are here with us!" Wow. So at this point conversation is started, and before we know it, Sara and I are taking pictures, discussing British English v. American English, and insisted that my camera was NOT $1,000 as they kept insisting.  After some time at the bar we were invited back to the station where we could wait by a cracking soba fire until our next train arrived.

The bartender and our faithful station master.

Me enjoying my Ciuc.

For the next two hours, we read, listened to our ipods, and enjoyed conversation with the seful and the random people that kept walking in and out to "see the American girls".  Before we knew it, our time had come to leave and we said a sad farewell to the kind and hospitable station master, all the conductors, and our new friends in Periam. It was like a movie, the train pulled out of the station and we all waved at each other until we became lost in the darkness of the night.

Pulling away from Periam, there's the station master!

Waving farewell...

 What should have been a 1.5 hour trip turned into a 6 hour adventure back home-and we would have it no other way. We truly had an amazing time meeting those wonderful and kind Romanians. They could have made us wait for our train outside in the cold and not said another word, but we were given shelter, food, and were made to feel at home immediately.  This is what we love about Romania. The people never cease to amaze us with their kindness, their giving spirit, and their love for life in general.  Our mistake turned into a true exchange of cultures, and opportunity to see somewhere we would never have seen before and meet people we never would have known. 

We're considering making a trip back to say thank you-this time on purpose.

Freya & Sara

On the right track...headed back to Timisoara FINALLY!

Roman(ian) Holiday

Me with Zsuzsa's Christmas tree

Merry Christmas everyone!  Thanks for putting up with my lack of blogging skills...I haven't forgotten about all of you!  I spent the majority of the days leading up to Christmas maxing out the free space on my computer's hard drive with every Christmas movie I ever remembered watching as a child...well, the good ones at least.  And now I have to watch them all, or it was time wasted...I have a long way to go.

We had school Monday and Tuesday of this week...although we didn't really have classes.  On Tuesday showed up for my 9 am class, after that I had an hour break and then I have another class.  Well the teacher eventually gathered her belongings to head to class and as I moved to follow she told me not to come to class.  Ooookay, so I just stayed at school for two hours to not have class?  This happens often enough to drive me insane, I just have to remember to be patient in the name of cultural integration...on the outside at least ;)  Wednesday my Christmas tree was delivered to me from the forest by my counterpart's husband.  After I lugged it up 7 flights of stairs and plopped it in the middle of the living room, it took a minute (or fifteen) to figure out what to do next.  This was my first live tree ever in my life...that I can remember!  The first challenge was getting it to stay upright.  Eventually after many failed attempts, I found my mop bucket. 

Problem number 2:  there were some low branches that prevented it from fitting nicely in the mop bucket.  I grabbed the biggest knife I could find in my kitchen and sawed away.  The extra branches made a lovely centerpiece for my kitchen table.  Problem number 3: where to put the thing.  My living is not exactly spacious, and what space there is is in front of the TV or in the path between the two doors.  Well I found a place to put it, but the tree was too tall.  So I bent the top branch in half so it would fit, covering my hands in sap along the way.  And I was done!  Oh wait, I forgot about the big red monstrosity that is my mop bucket.  Problem solved.  Sorry Boo, you'll have to sleep on the floor for a few days, or weeks, while I use your blanket to drape around the mop bucket.  Finished!!!  Luckily I seemed to have enough patience on Wednesday to make enough paper snowflakes to make my tree look complete.  I must say, its pretty cute :)

The finished product.

Thursday my counterpart and I spent THREE HOURS at the supermarket doing our last minute shopping.  I bought a bunch of stuff to bake with, especially to bake frosted sugar cookies for myself.  During the car ride home I remembered that I'm still too scared to light my oven...darn it all I want those sugar cookies!!!!!  Later that evening, I went back to my counterpart's house with her sister to make gingerbread cookies and build trees with them.  Well, that failed too hahaha...at 10 pm we were still waiting for enough cookies to build with and decided to call it quits.  Oh well, there's always next year.  Zsuzsa did make a tree the next day though...super cute! 

Yesterday I celebrated Christmas Eve by watching a string of Christmas movies.  Later in the evening I went back to my counterpart's to help decorate the Christmas tree while her husband and son were out of the house.  Here, the angels bring the decorated Christmas tree and presents.  So her son had a nice surprise waiting for him when he got back.  We opened presents before heading to mass at 9 pm.  We were late, so we got to stand in the doorway.  Let me tell you standing in the cold, not being able to see, and not understanding a word of the language all add up to an hour of daydreaming...hmm.  I'll have to make up for it somehow, maybe I'll understand mass next year.  Or more likely, it'll have to wait until Christmas 2012.  After mass we ate a large meal that finished around midnight, then I went home to bed....eating late is a common theme here haha.

Zsuzsa's tree.

Today I didn't have much to do (my Christmas package is still not here :( ) so I watched some more Christmas movies before being picked up by my counterpart's family to go back to her house for Christmas dinner.  We sat at the table for 2 hours eating and talking...well, they talked.  I daydreamed...and then I came back to my apartment, and here I am! 

A few weeks ago I started writing down 3 things I am thankful for each day in my journal...a few days later I also started a segment entitled "3 things I now appreciate."  Here are a few examples:

December 15th:

Today I am thankful for:

            My super warm North Face jacket with its extra big hood…without I would freeze in the Romanian tundra I call home

            Cute boots that I can tuck my jeans into so I can be Romanianly fashionable…even if they leak.

            Colors.  They make for a fun class where I can laugh at my children and they don’t even know it :)

December 16th:

Here are today’s 3 things I’m thankful for:

1.       I have to go back to the jacket…I didn’t freeze while shopping today…and it leads into number two…

2.      My Grams, for helping me buy that super awesome warm jacket…and for many other things J

3.      My kindergarten meals…without them I would starve…or actually learn to cook for myself (here’s where you can snort with laughter).

And the “Things I now appreciate”:

1.       Long underwear.  You try waiting outside in the sub-freezing cold for two buses in one morning while also trekking across the town to do shopping, and then riding a bus back to your village without heat, and then walking across the village to get your kindergarten meal.  I can’t move my limbs.

2.      Cherry flavored pop/soda/coke, whatever you want to call it….I just love cherry, cherry’s my favorite.

3.      Being within a close proximity to a movie theater…I still haven’t seen Harry Potter!  It was only in Romanian theaters for a WEEK!  So weird, maybe it will come back.  But I refuse to watch a cam version of it!

And for today:

Today I am thankful for:

1.       Friends and family, old and new, who made the holidays all the more bearable.

2.      Romanian sales promotions.  “Why yes Cappy, a.k.a. Minute Maid, I will buy two abnormally large cartons of orange juice just so I can get that free glass.”

3.      Sugar.  Or the holidays because then its accepted that you will eat sugar, sugar, and more sugar :)

Things I appreciate more:

1.       The weather on the news.  Wait, I could watch that here too…nevermind.

2.      Pickle wraps…who knew they are what I would miss most about Christmas in the States.

3.      Energizer lithium batteries that last forever in my camera.  Every time I use my camera I’m careful to not use too much of the battery.  I don’t know where or when I’ll get my next stash. Haha.

4.      Package tracking…darn it mom, next package make it trackable, I’m going insane with all of this waiting!